Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku member Kashiwagi Hinata has been diagnosed with sudden deafness. As such, she will not be participating in the handshake event scheduled on December 19.

The handshake event, which will be held to commemorate the release of their new single "Super Hero", will be held with the seven members only. Kashiwagi's individual handshake event will be held sometime later.

In addition, the group will postpone the release of their new album, which was originally set for release on February 10. More details on this will be revealed in the near future.

In a statement released by Rina’s agency it was revealed that the cause of death was fatal arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm). This occurs when the electrical impulses that coordinate your heartbeats don’t work properly. This results in your heart beating too fast, or too slow/irregularly. Rina originally couldn’t attend a Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku concert due to health issues, while recuperating at home her parents noticed odd behavior and called the ambulance. She was taken to the hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

All Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku events for the month of February have been canceled, exception being a special farewell ceremony for Rina. The ceremony will take place on February 25th at the Pacifico Yokohama convention center.

After just a few weeks have passed... I finally bring myself to make a comment here. Thank you for those who already acknowledged this sad event and paid tribute to Rina-san. Ebichu is one of my go-to groups when I need a light lift. Since this news, I have watched every one of their blu-ray lives that I have, always paying attention to the great job done by Rina even though she has not been my Ebichu oshi. She is going to be really missed, and I hope the rest of the members will be able to pull it together in some time to come, and continue in memory of their friend and co-worker. It is going to be tough! But being an idol is a tough gig at any time, and these girls have the guts to do it I think.

There are some... I don't know what to say... strange coincidences in their repertoire, and maybe a couple of songs will be too tough to ever perform again. Those would be Oh my ghost! which has a zombie theme... that was the one that was hardest to watch in the lives I watched... and also the recent new single Sudden Death... that is the weirdest coincidence of all in regard to timing, but I think nothing spooky about that, it is just weird and unfortunate timing.

I will continue to love and support Ebichu as long as they exist, and will miss Rina greatly, even more now that she is gone. Finally, I feel deeply for her parents most of all, since she was an only child, and as a parent myself of an only child, I can slightly imagine the awful impact her loss will have on them. I hope they can be strong and survive on the memories of their beautiful daughter and all her short life brought in joy to so many of her fans.